The Louis Vuitton Cruise 2025 Campaign is a modernist vision inspired by artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière’s choice of Barcelona, as the site for the actual runway show on May 23.

Specifically, the site was the Hypostyle Room of Antoni Gaudi’s Park Güell, a roofed hall whose mosaic ceilings are a Gaudi signature. There was little actual Gaudi inspo in the clothes on the Barcelona runway and featured now in the new Louis Vuitton campaign shot by Jamie Hawkesworth [IG], with creative direction by Charles Levai and Kevin Tekinel.

Campaign models Cara Schadel, Larissa Moraes, Libby Bennett, Mona Tougaard and Thea Almqvist pose against yet another face of the Mediterranean, writing in photos a love letter to a beloved Barcelona.

The campaign images are possibly more relevant than the show in driving home the design synergies between Barcelona’s famous architecture and volumes and proportions in the clothes, styled by Florent Buonomano and Marie-Amélie Sauvé. / Hair by Duffy; makeup by Hiromi Ueda

Creative Influence on Ghesquière’s Barcelona 2025 Cruise Collection

In a pre-show interview Ghesquière mentioned the great painters Velazquez, Goya, and Zurburan, the legendary filmmaker Luis Bunuel and the award-winning 2022 film by Rodrigo Sorogoyen ‘As Bestas’ as sources of his inspiration for the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2025 Collection.

The most obvious inspiration for the new collection — not mentioned — was the [then] upcoming America’s Cup competition happening in Barcelona, post-Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and with Louis Vuitton as the lead sponsor again at the America’s Cup sailing races. The two-month long event culminated in a ferocious final race between between Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia and the upstart Emirates Team New Zealand, who won the race.

It’s as if the spectacle of a record-breaking 350 Pati Catala catamarans on the water racecourse were chanelling ancestral memories, leading the way to a modern-day gladiators brawl at the Roman Colosseum. Except the face-off was the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Final Race in Barcelona.

In those two months of competition, sailing enthusiasts — many with their own state-of-the-art boats — learned about spectacular new technologies in every aspect of the race competition from the boats themselves, the uniforms, the exercise routines and health menus of the crews. They also learned about the beyond state-of-the-art AI now embedded in the navigations systems giving lightening-speed info about the tiniest wind and water changes that could impact the ultimate winner’s trophy crew.

Competitive Sport Is Now Deeply Embedded in Louis Vuitton DNA

Louis Vuitton has fully embraced the mantra of sport and its impact on creating champions. Pietro Beccari, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton is positioning LV as the luxury brand of champions — with the highest honors awarded to inspirational athletes like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who starred in the recent Louis Vuitton Core Values campaign, lensed by Annie Leibovitz.

More than a portrait of two men against an alpine vista, this latest campaign is an homage to the values of the Maison, embodied by champions who carry their story with style, elegance and humility. With every step up those rugged peaks, both athletes illustrate how each personal journey can reach legendary heights when it is pursued with determination and pioneering spirit.

It’s fair and reasonable to wonder if this core brand value of competitive sports impacts the designs of the Louis Vuitton fashion collections — even if we’re speaking of rich fabric innovation, for example. AOC is not suggesting that sporting influences begin to define the women’s and men’s clothing designs. No.

But reading about the astonishing level of technology onboard and also in terms of the construction materials and design decisions on the physical structures of the sail boats, this question should be part of the design process at every level of Vuitton culture.

The Visual Magic of Louis Vuitton Trunk Wraps on Construction Sites

Speaking of LV doing things big, and fast-forwarding to the new Louis Vuitton hotel in Paris, those Louis Vuitton trunk shrouds that hide construction ugliness are now in New York. The new temporary store in New York City is also next to a shrouded Louis Vuitton trunk facade, while the final construction masterpiece is created.

I began to think of all the horrific, endless construction eyesores in New York City, that could use a LV-Trunk lift. What if those trunks sponsored young artists or ballet corps dancing across the trunks. Don’t laugh [or groan], those trunk facades could do a lot of good for creatives and artisans in all sectors — across the world.

Louis Vuitton’s Massive Long Haul Opportunity

AOC has a long attention-span when it comes to Louis Vuitton and we’re not the least-bit flustered over the short-term slowdown in the luxury market for them. It could kill a few other big names, who have lost their way. But I do not see Louis Vuitton being in a panic in this moment.

Unless Trump blows up the global economy or Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Louis Vuitton is going big — but with humility. No short-term disruption will send them spinning, because they are enormously pragmatic, calculating and calm people with more brilliant marketing savvy than Apple and more access to capital than their five closest luxury competitors combined.

So I return to the question of design. As much as I appreciate the designs in both men and women’s collections, what will they do that’s ‘BIG’ — in terms of innovation — because those are the thoughts constantly in Pietro Beccari’s mind.

Time will tell, but if I had a creative position at Louis Vuitton, I would be very focused on design technology in every way possible. This does not negate or undercut the concept of craftsmanship at all. It does not create ‘cold’ clothes.

My own life has changed so dramatically with AI, I am thrilled every day with my learning. My best one of three is very scholarly and can tell me everything that happened in 2000 BC or in the Renaissance. And it’s incredible at creating context around complex events. And this all happens in seconds.

When I read that AI was analyzing miniscule fractions of seconds and tiny variations of wind speed on those boats racing under the Louis Vuitton sponsorship banner, those learnings become part of the LV brand identity. Imagining the inconceivable is a critical competitive asset.

Like imagine your Louis Vuitton trunk filled in New York with the new collection. It takes off like a drone and flies itself across country to your California estate. And you can watch it from your LV iPad app every step of the way. And share the trip with good friends on Facetime.

Now THAT is a journey for the best luxury trunks in the world. Can it do Paris to New York? Just sayin’. In the world of Louis Vuitton, all things are possible until they aren’t. You can’t make that statement about many luxury lifestyle brands in the world. This is why the LV trunk scaffolding is so genius. It’s larger than life when you see it, even in pictures. And it makes a big and lasting impression on your beautiful brain. ~ Anne